Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam is willing to shareits experience in preventing and combating the COVID-19 pandemic with SouthAfrica via online conferences as it has done with medical military forces ofsome countries recently, Sen. Lieut.Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh, Deputy Minister of National Defence, told his SouthAfrican counterpart Thabang Makwetla.

During his phone talks with the South African Deputy Minister of Defenceand Military Veterans on July 9, Vinh stressedthe importance of international cooperation in the fight against the pandemic.

He briefed on Vietnam’s efforts in containingthe spread of the novel coronavirus, noting that thanks to the involvement ofthe whole political system, with the army playing a core role, Vietnam hassuccessfully controlled the epidemic.

The Vietnamese official also shared COVID-19 prevention results of Vietnam’s UNpeacekeeping forces in the UN Peacekeeping Missions in Africa, especially effortsand active response made by members of the 2nd level-2 field hospital inSouth Sudan.

For his part, Thabang Makwetla praised Vietnam’s success in the fightagainst COVID-19, expressing the hope that Vietnam will support his country tosoon repel the disease.

The two sides reviewed the bilateral defence cooperationand discussed orientations for stronger ties in the coming time.

They noted with pleasure that the cooperation has been on track since the visitof the South African Minister of Defence and Military Veterans to Vietnam inAugust last year, in line with the agreement on defence cooperation signed in2006.

They demonstrated a determination to further enhance collaboration in thefields of training, cyber security, UN peacekeeping operation, militarymedicine and defence industry.

Particularly, the two sides also agreed to expand military medicine cooperationas part of efforts to respond to non-traditional security challenges, stressingthat it is necessary to focus on this work in the time to come.

The two sides will continue to maintain the Defence Policy Dialogue mechanismas a foundation to share views on issues of common concern, while taking measuresto strengthen their defence ties.

The Vietnamese official also informed his counterpart about Vietnam’s plans toorganise activities during the year it acts as ASEAN Chair 2020 and anon-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2020-2021.

He took the occasion to invite leaders of the South African Ministry ofDefence and Military Veterans to attend a programme for guests hosted by theChair of the ASEAN Defence Ministers MeetingPlus (ADMM ).


Thabang highly valued Vietnam’s position androle in the international arena and the region, affirming that his country willback Vietnam’s initiatives, thus contributing to regional and global peace,stability and development./.